Like Liars Looking For Forgiveness
by Lawliet Veneziano
Summary: Severus Snape planned on Lily Potter not dying. He planned on mourning her when she did. But he did not plan on taking in her orphaned son nor that a certain dog Animagus following him home. Now having to care for two young children while hiding from everyone, Severus will have to also figure out how not to kill Sirius Black. Even if he really wants to. (Harry Potter AU)
1. Sirius Thought Was Not Made About This

Before Severus Snape left the house, realizing exactly what was happening, feeling it in the air, knowing it without being told, he made sure that everything was okay. He kept his ear open for any noises as he made his way to the front door, he gave a side look at the large black crow that had taken to staying perched at the windowsill of the upper right window of his house in the last year, he locked the door tight and put up the usual protections, the ones he'd taken to practicing long ago but that he had learned to do far more effortlessly, without a thought every time he left. There was a panic, a concern to him still as he walked outside but it was quickly eclipsed by the other emotions that came over him that night; the Dark Lord was on the move, Severus had made his decision and become a double agent to save the woman he had grown up with, the woman he loved, yet for everything Albus Dumbledore was, as much as anyone else might believe that the man could do it if anyone could save the Potters from destruction, there was a deep pit that lay in his stomach and he couldn't for all the potions he brewed and spells he cast dispel it. Something was happening, things were moving and tonight, All Hallow's Eve, was the night.

The cold night air blew and he pulled his cloak around him tighter, taking one more glance at the crow that cleaned its feathers before heading out, apparating away from his home and to the place he knew everything would be happening, to that little house in Godric's Hollow that no one was supposed to know about yet there was it was, and it was deathly still. All the lights were out but one, a singular window that glowed in the darkness of the night, a beacon that brought him both a glimmer of hope and the pain of fear as he noticed too the front door was wide open; there was a noise in the air, the sound of someone crying and he made his way inside, careful, quiet. Each step was calculated, each movement felt heavy; the inside of the house, dark as it was, felt filled with something, the feeling of death that he could easily recognize and felt his heart pound in his chest.

He found James at the top of the stairs, eyes wide, caught it seemed by the approach of the last intruder; Severus didn't dare stop, didn't dare look too long at the face of his old schoolmate. There was a time when James Potter had been the greatest enemy he knew, he and his group who tortured Severus on a regular basis at school; that though had been when they were children and a chill ran down his back as he realized in a moment that none of that mattered now. He'd hated James Potter so much, with the kind of hatred that when one is a teenager feels like it will last forever; he hated him for the way he treated Severus, he hated him for his bluster and arrogance, he hated him for the fact he'd won the woman Severus had loved, he hated him for taking her away from him. Yet there was not a hatred in him now as he glanced at the man, making his way down the hallway still, even as the thought chased him down; perhaps it was that they were no longer kids in school anymore, perhaps it was the events that had transpired in both of their lives since the day of their graduation, perhaps it was the similarities that in the past the young man would have loathed to admit to but now couldn't help but think of. James died tonight and Severus felt a tinge of sadness in his chest knowing it; he'd probably died trying to protect her in the end. The crying continued and he followed the sound, trying to push away all the thoughts and emotions that were threatening him. But there was nothing he could do to control it as he walked into the open nursery and saw her body.

Lily Evans, Lily Potter, looked so cold and he was certain his heart stopped, that all things stopped. When they restarted though it was like he had a knife dug harshly into his chest and no matter how he tried to gasp for breath, there was no air to be found. Her beautiful red hair, he remembered being a child and watching as she, one herself, put flowers into it, smiled with that brilliant smile that felt like such a lost dream now. She almost looked asleep and part of him tried to convince him that it had to be so, that she had to be asleep; after all he'd begged hadn't he? He had pleaded with the Dark Lord to spare her, if nothing else to spare his old childhood friend, his beloved Lily; Severus had gone to Dumbledore for her, had become a double agent for her, had put his very life on the line so that the headmaster would keep her safe, keep her alive. So Lily couldn't be dead, she couldn't possibly be dead, because otherwise for what point did he do all that? He fell to his knees and picked her up, and she didn't respond, didn't move, didn't breathe. And he was certain she was indeed cold because there wasn't an ounce of warmth to her body and he wanted to scream, wanted to cry, letting out a sob as he held her in his arms.

Then stopped, because still was that screaming, that crying and his head turned to look towards the source. The cause of all this, the reason Voldemort had come there, the reason Severus had had to beg and double deal in hopes of saving her; he looked so tiny for someone who was prophesized to defeat the Dark Lord and Severus' eyes immediately found the small red wound upon the little boy's forehead, yet what caught him more was the frantic, desperate sounds coming from the boy, tears streaming down his face. The man set down Lily carefully and made his way over to the crib, pulling out his wand without a word, the small child continuing to wail, looking up at him now with an indescribable sort of distress; for his part Severus' face, though only slightly less tear-stained, was unreadable as well and he prepared the words to a spell, waving the wand before letting the words come out.

The tears dried up on the boy's face and he immediately stopped crying, his eyes looking strange for a moment before a small sniffle and coo left him; Severus took the opportunity to reach down, grabbing the small red and gold blanket that lay in the crib with the infant and wrapping him up in it before lifting him out. He shifted him carefully in his arms, feeling slightly uncomfortable as the boy stared at him with a quiet sort of look; the Slytherin was careful to support his head, nestling him gently before turning around.

And right into the outstretched wand of someone he most definitely didn't wish to see at the moment. Admittedly in terms of who he expected to see there, the scruffy visage of Sirius Black was certainly on that list though he would be willing to say that the man looked far less put together than he had ever seen him. Actually he looked a little like he had been in an explosion recently, his clothes slightly charred and his hair a mess, but his eyes were clear and full of cold anger as he looked Severus in the eye, wand still pointed as he spoke carefully, calculated. Yet there was a shaking to his tone that did not escape Severus' notice. "Put Harry down right now Snivellus and I won't blast you to kingdom come."

"Where do I even start with that stupid statement?" Severus asked unable to resist some biting wit back at the man; he tried not to flinch as the man managed by some miracle to shove the wand even further into his face and he tutted his tongue, "For one you cannot expect me to put the boy down on the ground and I am not about to turn my back on you to put him back into his crib. Secondly you try to 'blast me' and you'll hurt him too which I feel would be rather counterintiutive considering I assume you came here for him. And thirdly you look like you just walked out of a blast, how about not causing another one?"

"Shut up, Snivellus," Sirius snarled, his expression darkening only to almost immediately melt away as Harry started to wail again; the man went from angry to confused and worried in the blink of an eye and he swore under his breath as the little boy cried loudly.

Severus frowned and grumbled slightly. "Now look what you've done, you fool. And here I just got him to calm down too."

He started to rock the boy gently, holding him against his shoulder as he softly shushed him; Sirius was stunned, watching as the usually grumpy Slytherin tended to the child and Harry, hiccupping and gripping onto the man's clothes with his chubby little fists, started to settle down again. Severus rubbed his back a little for good measure and upon figuring the boy was calm again returned Harry to being cradled in his arms before throwing an icy glare at Sirius. "Get that stupid look off your face, Black."

"How the bloody hell do you know how to calm a baby?" Sirius asked unsure what else he could possibly ask in this moment.

Severus opened his mouth to answer but the sound of voices outside interrupted and Sirius turned towards the door with wide eyes and yet another "oh fuck". It occurred to Severus that this could be a number of things though by the other man's reaction he was certain that Sirius was expecting something bad.

"What did you do?" Severus asked, holding Harry carefully as he narrowed his eyes at his old schoolmate.

"I didn't do anything!" Sirius yelled then gave a sheepish look towards Harry who simply yawned and continued to cling onto Severus' clothes, "I just...damnit."

"Black..."

"I didn't do anything, I swear; I just...I heard about You-Know-Who coming this way and I freaked out. I tried to confront Wormtail...Peter," Sirius said and suddenly he looked a mixture of hurt and frustrated and disgusted, all at once; he tried to grab at his hair with both hands, wand still in one of them as he stared at nothing in particular, "And he...oh fuck, Snivellus, he blew them up. He fucking blew them up."

"Blew who up, Black? Try and make sense please." The noises were getting closer and Severus realized that it was more than a few sets of footprints, something inside him telling him that it wasn't Dumbledore or his helper Hagrid come for the boy. A lump developed in his throat and he stepped back and hit the crib with the back of his legs, holding Harry closer without thinking about it.

"Muggles, he blew up so many Muggles," Sirius said and pulled at his hair, "And they saw me and the Ministry thinks I did it."

"So you brought them here?" Severus wasn't sure what to feel about that, though he felt like this could do absolutely nothing good for them. Him with his Dark Mark, holding the infant son of the two murdered Potters, including the man who anyone who knew them would know he despised greatly. Dumbledore was sure to come for the boy too, and the lump returned as his mind raced through a whole different track; maybe this was what was supposed to be what happened, maybe this was the old headmaster's plan all along. Voldemort obviously wasn't there anymore and yet Lily and James Potter were dead, and Harry Potter wasn't; the boy probably did destroy the Dark Lord somehow, someway and that perhaps would be a good thing except for that Lily was dead. And Severus, knowing that Albus Dumbledore was perhaps not only a powerful wizard but one of the most conniving ultimately, couldn't shake the feeling, the sinking impression, that this, this had been his plan all along. He never meant to save Lily or James or even try to protect Harry at all; what would he do with the boy now that the Dark Lord had been defeated? Give him to an orphanage? No, that wouldn't do, there were still Death Eaters after all, many loyal to Voldemort, willing to try and hunt the boy down to kill him to avenge their fallen master; he would need extra protection, somewhere Dumbledore could have some control. So with a family, his own blood family.

And the thought of who Harry's surviving family was made Severus almost physically sick; he heard the footsteps get even closer, and a voice saying something about the target being close, and there was Severus Snape holding a baby with his dead ex-best friend on the ground and Sirius Black seeming to be on the verge of a breakdown. And the mere thought of Dumbledore taking Harry to that horrendous woman made him do something reckless; he shifted Harry so he could hold the boy with one arm, causing him to stir a little from the nap he had started to slip into as Severus reached out and grabbed Sirius' forearm, Apparating them both seconds before the door opened and Ministry officials came into the room, followed by a very confused looking Hagrid.

"Fuck Snivellus!" Sirius yelled as they reappeared outside Severus' house, the Gryffindor grumbling as he fell to the ground, trying to catch himself; Apparating was nothing new to him but it was disorienting to him, being forcefully dragged around like this.

He got back to his feet, glaring once more at his ex-schoolmate but the other man seemed less than interested or concerned, heading towards the front door of his residence, pulling out his wand to lower the protections and unlock the door to let them inside. Sirius looked up at the gloomy house, dark and shabby looking in a neighbor of depressing and rundown homes. "Damn is this really your house?"

"Get inside Black before I shut this door on your face," Severus said warningly and Sirius blanched before rushing inside; once inside Severus clicked his tongue and with a wave of his wand, and mumbled spell, the protections went back up and he went in further to the house.

Sirius looked around, getting an eyeful of the home of the man he once thought of as one of his favorite targets in school, his current predicament forgotten in the appearance of it all. It was cleaner than he imagined Severus' house to be, full of books and small things; he took note of something laying out in the living room and walked in, picking up the small stuffed cat and making a face at it.

"Did you go to Pron-James' house to steal Harry and Lily away from him?" Sirius said with a frown, turning to look over at Severus, watching as he started up the stairs; Sirius rushed after him, feeling further frustration build up inside him, "Snivellus, I always knew you were obsessed but seriously?"

"You really are an idiot, aren't you Black?" Severus scoffed, continuing up the stairs.

"Answer me, Snivellus!"

"Do not yell in my house."

"Or what?"

Severus turned his head to look over his shoulder at the other man and raised an eyebrow. "You asked me a question before."

"Yeah; if you were planning on kidnapping Harry," Sirius said.

"Not that one, idiot, back when we were at the house." Sirius blinked and furrowed his brow to remember but the things that night, everything that had happened, it was melting together and causing him trouble.

Severus sighed and continued on to the top of the stairs, making his way down the hallway to the room at the end of it. Carefully he whispered a spell and the door opened, allowing him to walk inside with Harry nodding off in his arms and Sirius in tow. The room beyond the door was in many ways the same and in many ways very different than the one in the Potter household; the walls were decorated in silver and emerald, intricate images of all sorts of animals and not just snakes wandering around in the wallpaper. There was a rocking chair against a wall with a few more stuffed animals laid haphazardly upon it, and a toy chest beside it held more toys; a small dresser with small clothes neatly tucked away, a picture of a smiling woman that it struck Sirius was definitely not Lily, her hair obviously dark even in the dim light of the room, her eyes seeming almost red as she silently laughed and clung onto the arm of what Sirius realized was a slightly younger Severus, looking awkward and shyly out towards the edge of the picture. He stared at it for a moment as the older version walked over to the crib by the window, eyes lifting for a second to meet that of the crow that sat guard outside before gently unlatching the boy from his clothes and setting him down inside. Sirius walked over to see that it wasn't empty, a small child already occupying the same bed that upon having a roommate started to fuss and whine.

"Aw shush little one," Severus said in a voice that struck Sirius as far too gentle to be him and the man picked the child up, holding them delicately in his arms; a girl, not much older than Harry himself, with soft black hair and tiny hands that reached out and upon having one of his fingers in reach clung on. She fussed more and deep crimson eyes opened, staring up at him as the Slytherin hummed softly and rocked her much like he had rocked Harry when he had started to cry.

"What...who..." Sirius had no idea what to say, or what he even wanted to say.

Severus didn't look at him, focusing his attention on the tiny girl for the moment, continuing to try and soothe her until she too calmed down. Only then, as she settled and let out a small yawn, drawing his fingers to her mouth and only stopped from trying to put them into her mouth by him carefully pulling them back, did he speak to the other man in the room again, smiling lightly down at the child still, "The reason I know how to calm a crying baby and why I find your constant yelling very irritating would be because of this little one. Her name is Nyx, she would be my daughter."


	2. Harry and Nyx Are The Most Mature Here

"Your daughter," Sirius repeated, the other man's tone seeming stuck between a flat sort of emotionlessness and confusion, pure unadulterated confusion. Severus supposed that was better than flat out denial but as of yet he wasn't sure that wasn't what would be coming next; he readjusted the child who seemed to have not been fully deterred by his trying to stop her and was once again trying to grab at his fingers to suck on them.

"I don't think I stuttered," Severus responded and tapped Nyx's nose, making her wiggle and whine before he move her once again and moved to place her back with Harry in the crib; he wondered for a moment if he should use magic to summon the crib from the Potter's nursery, it occurred to him that two children sharing one might be a bit cramped and it would be faster just to use Accio. But the thought that might just cause more suspicion stopped him and he tried to settle her back down only for her to start to cry and Harry to start to stir from the slumber he had fallen into; Severus sighed and went back to rocking her and holding her in his arms, "Fine fine, have it your way, Nyxie; you always do anyway."

"Daddy~," She cooed and tried to grab his hair next which he quickly moved out of her way and he turned his gaze back towards the other man in the room. Sirius looked like he was trying to contemplate this, everything that had happened and everything he had learned, and Severus was half tempted to save him the effort and explain it for him.

"Who did you steal her from, because sure as hell isn't anyone alive who'd let your greasy arse near them long enough to make a baby." Never mind; he had almost forgotten who he was dealing with. His eye twitched for a moment and Nyx grabbed onto his hand, managing to drag his index finger close enough to shove it into her little mouth for about five seconds before he pulled it away from her again.

His tone was cold. "You are really a very vulgar person aren't you?"

"Well excuse me if I find it hard to believe anyone would ever want to let you touch them not to mention be willing to have your greasy baby."

The words had barely left Sirius' lips, in mid eye roll when he felt the tip of a wand be forcefully thrust at his throat. He didn't even have time enough to respond, finding himself frozen as the dark haired Slytherin hissed in a low voice, "Do not ever refer to Nyx in such a disrespectful way ever again or I will make you wish you were the one never to be born."

Sirius stared back at Severus and it seemed to be that suddenly he realized that this was not Snivellus. Or perhaps more that it was the Snivellus he had created; as far as Severus was concerned he was used to the abuse, the name calling, the bullying. He had hoped that time would have instilled in him some level of maturity but it seemed that Sirius Black was probably always going to be this way, always the boy and never anything more. Even James had managed some level of adulthood.

Neither man moved, Severus keeping his wand ready until the moment Nyx started to cry and like that the moment was over. He lowered the weapon and looked at her, watching as she fidgeted and whined before sighing lightly and slipping his wand again, held her over his shoulder, rubbing her back gently. "Hush little one, you're okay."

He only felt bad for upsetting her; he had no sympathy for Sirius though there was a shard in the back of his mind that murmured about how he had brought the man to his house, saved him from the Ministry after what had apparently happened to him. Severus wanted to be content to believe that it was because he didn't need the other man telling anyone that Severus was the one who took Harry, didn't want that information making it's way back to Dumbledore. He had trusted the Hogwarts headmaster and what had that gotten him, the person who he had put his life on the line to protect, for whom he had become a double agent against the most dangerous Dark wizard in perhaps all of recorded wizard history, she was dead. His childhood friend Lily was dead and the hole that left ached but Nyx yawned and he continued patting her back and his eyes moved to where Harry was sleeping calmly and it struck Severus that this was for the best. Dumbledore and Voldemort, he had gone to both begging to save Lily and both had betrayed him; hell, as far as he was concerned Harry being the sole survivor was part of the headmaster's plans all along. Well then, Severus wouldn't allow for it and if that meant taking in the son of his greatest enemy and his ex-best friend, then so be it. How much harder would it be with two babies than just one?

"Sorry." It was nearly muffled, a grumbled and highly begrudging thing that he almost didn't hear but in the end he did, and raising an eyebrow he turned to look at Sirius. The other man's gaze was turned away and it took Severus a moment to realize he was staring at Harry as well, watching the child sleep; he had his hands shoved into his pockets and there was a strange look to his face, similar to when he had spoken of what happened with Peter Pettigrew. Of course Severus still didn't think he fully understood what had happened there but for the moment it was far overshadowed by the fact that Sirius Black had actually apologized to him, Severus Snape.

"For what?" he finally said himself and couldn't help the venom in his tone, "You've done a lot of things that need apologizing; trying to murder me when we were in school? Bullying me constantly? Just being a general wanker?"

"Oh shut up Snivellus," Sirius bit back, causing him to smirk; the Gryffindor turned to glare at him and shifted feet, "I'm trying to be nice here."

"Little late don't you think, considering you have the Ministry after you and you already have done a lot of terrible things."

"I'm sorry for calling her," he gestured at the dark haired girl who was holding tight to Severus' hair now, which of course would be a pain to get her to let go of later, "greasy. She seems...fine."

Severus wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to hex Sirius or not at the moment; it was really a toss-up. Rolling his eyes he shook his head. "Nyx is far better than fine but that is neither here nor there. I suppose I can accept that lame attempt at apologizing."

Sirius nodded and a few moments of silence passed between them; not entirely comfortable with just standing there staring at the other man, he returned to his thoughts about possibly retrieving the other crib. Maybe once he was sure everything would have had to be calmer, whenever that would be; until he supposed letting them share couldn't possibly have any lasting negative effects...

"So," Sirius spoke again, only partially breaking through Severus' thoughts, "Who is her mother anyway?"

Damn him and his curiosity; as if sensing the sudden change in her father as his blood froze, Nyx whined and pulled on his hair, though not even that could distract the thought line going through his mind and he didn't answer at first. Which of course turned out badly as was his luck for Sirius glanced back towards the picture, the one of the woman with Severus, and he continued, "Is her in the picture? She looks sort of familiar, though I can't really place her..."

"I do not think that's important," Severus spoke, his tone short and clipped, causing Sirius to frown back at him.

"Guess not but sort of suspicious you wouldn't want to tell me; figured you'd be all over proving that you're not the creepy git who can't even keep a friend, not to mention get a girl to want to be with him long enough to have a kid."

"Unlike you I don't find value in bragging about sex."

"Hey, I can't help it if girls always have found me irresistible," he said and shrugged, "I wash my hair after all."

The Slytherin rolled his eyes once more and started the arduous process of disconnecting his daughter from his hair. "The same hair that looks like you stuck it under a weed whacker?"

"What the bloody hell is a weed whacker?" Severus choose not to respond to that one.

"Do you have any idea what you're going to do now?"

"Don't change the subject, Snivellus."

Severus winced though not because of Sirius of course; Nyx's grip was quite strong and he found it hard getting her to let go without getting his hair ripped out of the scalp in the process and being still barely a toddler she found it funny making her father cringe at having his hair pulled. Stopping for a moment he waved his wand, causing the window to open; there was a caw and Sirius jumped back as the crow from outside flew in, making its way over to Severus and Nyx. The small girl saw the bird and almost immediately let go of her father's hair, giggling and talking in unintelligible babble as her little fingers tried grabbing towards the crow; it circled Severus and it was hard for him to not smile, watching the happiness in her face before the bird perched in the crib, just above Harry's head. The little boy awoke with a whine and seeing the crow as well seemed suddenly very interested in it's feathers; he grabbed one to pull at it and Sirius made a face.

"Did you just let in a wild animal?"

"Corvus is not a wild animal," Severus said with some severity and as Harry rolled over onto his stomach to better get at the bird he set Nyx back into the crib, watching as both children tried to grab at the bird only for it to jump out of reach, up onto the railing around the crib and tilt it's head at them. Harry whined but Nyx, seeming used to this, only laughed and picked up one of the feathers left behind, shoving it in Harry's face; the boy took it and looked it over with great interest and Severus tried not to laugh.

"You named it," Sirius said.

"I did not." The Gryffindor could tell there was more it than that, the short way he responded, the fact there was a strange sort of familiarity to the bird and girl, seeing Nyx reach out to it only for the bird to stretch out it's wings, making her laugh, repeating the name Severus called it and fall back onto her back. Harry watched her and held out the feather to her, causing her to put her hand on his face in some strange gesture that went beyond Sirius' limited understanding yet seemed to simply cause Severus to nod his head in understanding.

"You still haven't answered my question," Sirius said.

"And you haven't answered mine."

"You first, Snivellus."

"You know, I just saved your ungrateful arse from being taken away by the Ministry for something you say you did not do; you could be polite and not call me that in my own house."

"Answer the question then."

Severus set his jaw and glared at Sirius. "It is a) none of your business and b) even if it was, it wouldn't matter now."

"And why is that?" he asked.

"Because just like my first love, Nyx's mother is dead."

Sirius stopped for a moment, silent as he stared at his old schoolyard victim. He glanced back at the picture again then at Nyx trying to grab Harry's hair and Harry grabbing at hers. And the words that came out of his mouth were not ones he was really expecting, "Is that why you took Harry?"

Severus didn't answer at first; Sirius continued, "Why were you there, Sni-Severus. Only the Secret Keeper was supposed to know about where James and Lily were; why did I find you there standing over Lily's body, holding Harry?"

"You seemed to have believed not more than fifteen minutes ago that it was that I was there to steal Lily and Harry away."

"Were you?"

The Slytherin hesitated in responding again and his eventual answer came out slow, almost as if he was still trying to figure out the answer himself as he went along. "I knew neither of them would uphold their promise, I knew in the end that no matter what I did, no matter what I hoped for, Lily's fate was sealed the moment that idiot woman made that prophecy and the Dark Lord decided that it had to be Harry."

"What are you talking about, who didn't keep their promise, what promise?"

"Dumbledore and Voldemort." There was a cringe from Sirius but Severus ignored it, shaking his head, "I asked the Dark Lord to spare Lily, not to kill her, and he said he'd wouldn't but...I couldn't trust that, I wasn't stupid."

"You choose to become a Death Eater. And you were willing to sacrifice James and Harry just to save her."

"I asked Dumbledore to save them all; yes I went to him specifically to save Lily, and maybe if things were different I would have happily let Harry be sacrificed if it meant she lived but..." he stopped there and he stared; Sirius didn't need to look to know what it was Severus was distracted by. Nyx had progressed from trying to pull on Harry's small amount of hair to wrapping her arms around the other child and hugging him now, Corvus cawing and hopping from foot to foot as the two embraced.

Severus shook his head. "I asked Dumbledore to save them, I was willing to do anything, to be his spy, to potentially get myself killed too if it meant there was a chance this didn't have to happen, that Lily didn't have to...I trusted him, a lot more than I honestly trusted Voldemort, and he let this happen anyway."

"Look Dumbledore isn't perfect but none of this is his fault; I mean, it wasn't like he was the Secret Keeper," Sirius said frowning and his hand starting to squeeze into a fist without him thinking about it, his blood boiling, "It was Peter, they made him Secret Keeper and he...he betrayed them."

"You really think Dumbledore wouldn't have seen that coming?" Severus scoffed, "I mean seriously, Black, a blind person could have seen that coming; Pettigrew was the weakest member of your group, he wasn't even really one of you."

"We didn't think anyone would have thought Peter was the one because of that."

"Except he was already working for Voldemort before the Fidelius Charm was even cast; the spy among you was the rat, ironic as that is. It wasn't even that he was weak willed; he literally took the info happily to his master after he was Secret Keeper. If you had just accepted it like was supposed to happen, then none of this would have happened."

Sirius frowned and opened his mouth only to close again. There was no rebuttal, not one he could muster, and part of him was frustrated to hear Severus say aloud the same thing he had been trying not to think, that this was his fault, that it was because of his attempt at being smart that James was dead, that Lily was dead, that Harry was an orphan and he was standing in Severus' house, trying to figure out how he was going to not get arrested over Peter's death.

"I trusted Dumbledore to protect them and he failed; I trusted Voldemort not to kill them and he of course broke that promise. I trusted all you idiots to be able to make a smart choice in how to deal with this situation and you blew it. And I went there because I could feel it, could feel that this would end with death and pain and a part of me wanted to think I might be able to do something but I couldn't, I couldn't do a damn thing. And when I thought about Dumbledore maybe seeing this as part of a whole plan, and what he would think would be the right thing to do next..."

"And that is?"

"Do you know who Lily's sister is?" Sirius stopped for a moment and thought about it; he barely understood Lily even had a sister, though thinking on it he remembered a terrible vase and how talking about her wasn't something very favorable.

He made a face and shook his head. "No, though I'm guessing you do?"

"Petunia is one of the worst Muggles I know of and I have no end of terrible memories of how she treated me and Lily growing up," Severus said his own face sour, lightened only by seeing Nyx and Harry seeming to lay down, still hugging, and trying to go to sleep; his voice lowered a bit, "Dumbledore would need to send him somewhere he could control things, keep a good eye on him. It wouldn't do to keep him in the wizarding world; he'd need to be with his own family and as there isn't any living Potters for the most part..."

"That would be Lily's sister," Sirius continued, to which Severus nodded; the Gryffindor frowned again, "I know about terrible families; she as bad as you say, and considering how I don't think I ever met her myself, I'd have to agree that having Harry be given over to her wouldn't be good. But I'm still his godfather, and Lily and Harry wanted me to take him if anything happened, so-"

"So you plan on trying, despite having the Ministry after you?" Severus interupted, causing Sirius to freeze; he raised an eyebrow, "You got somewhere to go, idiot? Because the way I see it, you can't go home, the Ministry will definitely have that under investigation; as far as anyone is going to be concerned, you're going to be seen as the bad guy in what happened, assuming no one else knew Peter was the Secret Keeper and not you. They'll think you betrayed the Potters and you really think any of them will help you, try to hide you? The Death Eaters will want you dead because you caused their Lord to be killed, the rest of the wizarding community will want you in Azkaban at least for causing the Potters to die," Sirius turned white with every new word and Severus crossed his arms, "You plan on taking Harry out of here and what, going on the run forever, never staying in one place? Or maybe get yourself caught and then he'll end up with that psycho."

"Better than leaving him here with the man who despised his father," Sirius spoke softly, "He looks just like James-"

"He looks just like a baby," Severus snapped at the other man, "Like a child who lost his parents tonight; I'll admit I wanted Lily alive the most, and I did despise James, but if you really think me so heartless of to want a child to suffer just because his father happened to be the biggest wanker on the face of the earth, then you really are no different than the arsehole who tried to trick me into getting mauled by a werewolf. I am not evil, Sirius, despite what you might think. And he'd be safer here than he ever would be with an immature idiot who can't even keep from getting himself implicated in multiple murders."

This only infuriated Sirius and the Gryffindor narrowed his eyes, raising his wand to point it at Severus, having the same done to him in kind. The two men glared at one another in the nursery and Sirius spoke, "Watch your tongue, Snivellus."

"What, is the truth too painful for you, Black?"

"Shut up!"

"Make me." Spells seemed to be the tip of their tongues and were about to go flying, sleeping babies or not, yet didn't. Silence took root and the two men stood, angry, ready to fight, but not quite there.

It was not common sense that stopped Severus Snape and Sirius Black from murdering one another in the baby nursery, nor was the children waking who simply continued to slumber, tuckered out as they were. Rather instead it was Sirius, seeming to be filled with vim and vigor one moment, collapsing into a pile on the ground, leaving a very confused Severus to stare down at him and to see that the man was indeed asleep, no doubt a result of the night's events finally and viciously catching up to him. And as much as he was angry, he felt it melt down to simply annoyance and he grumbled before running a hand through his hair. This had been a bad idea, a spur of the moment decision he should have always known was going to be one he'd regret; James maybe grew up but Sirius hadn't and Severus was half tempted to take him back outside, leave him for the Ministry somewhere and let him be out of his hair.

But another thought crossed his mind and with a quick look towards Harry, the Slytherin frowned deeper before shaking his head and lowering his wand some. He murmured a spell, causing Sirius to lift off the ground quite easily and grumbling once more, carried him off to one of the guest rooms and leaving him on the bed; he got close enough to remove the man's wand before leaving the room, locking the room and stopping for a moment.

Severus realized he was exhausted; it was more than simply Sirius or the pain of losing Lily or having to bring both the child and the idiot back to his house or the argument or any of the rest of it. It was all of it, everything, on top of the exhaustion that had become a close friend in the last year since Nyx was born and he had become a single parent, and he wondered if perhaps that if Sirius hadn't collapsed if it would have been him instead. And then what would the man have done?

Making his way back to Nyx's room to check on her and the boy he found the two still asleep; he allowed himself a small smile and put the blanket over them both, making sure they were properly tucked in and that both were okay before turning his gaze to Corvus. The crow tilted its head at him now and he was half tempted to snort.

"I'm going to bed," he said and waving his wand, the bird cawed and flew out the window just before it could close, returning to it's perch on he other side. He watched it carefully, silent and still for a moment before letting out a yawn; he really was tired.

Dealing with the idiot and the new child in his house would probably have to wait until morning; for now though all he wanted was to lay down in his bed. He went to the door and his eyes lingered over the picture, staring as the woman in it pulled his younger self back into frame just as he tried to escape and her eyes met the real Severus', making her smile brightly and his own to turn baleful.

"Goodnight Astra," he said, closing the door and making his way to his own room for the night.


	3. Two Men, Two Babies and a Cat

"Corvus."

"Co'vus."

"Daddy."

"Daddy!~"

"Okay then, let's try this again. Harry. Harry."

Nyx blinked, staring up blankly at Severus for a moment before smiling brightly and pointed at Harry, laughing, "Lily!"

Severus sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was morning and the young man was sitting in the kitchen; his daughter was on his lap, not a very common occurrence but necessary he found. Nyx was willing to let him get her to sit still long enough to eat, though the child was honestly far more interested in her new playmate and in trying to get as much of her food on her father as possible, but upon bringing Harry down with them to give the boy his breakfast he found he was much less willing. Between the squirming, the cries for his mother, and the fact that he nearly hurt himself almost falling off of Severus' lap, it had left him with no choice but to put Harry in Nyx's high chair and hold the girl himself.

The boy who lived was now peacefully trying to put a bowl of mashed bananas on his head, something that Severus only stopped by a hair, lifting his wand and listening to his daughter laugh even more as the bowl floated out of Harry's grasp, causing him to whine and start to cry again. He sighed and put the food on the table, continuing to use his magic to levitate a spoonful of the mush over to the boy to coax him to eat which luckily seemed to work; at the same time he had been trying to teach Nyx who Harry was. Something that was made more complicated by the fact that of course she knew about Lily, even if just as the girl in the pictures her father had around, and apparently in true childish manner, she had made the connection between her and the boy in her house now; he blamed the eyes personally. But now, trying to get her to call Harry by his name, she kept repeating the same thing and Severus was not entirely sure what was bothering him more: his daughter saying the name of his dead childhood friend, or his daughter refusing to call Harry by his name.

"Nyx," he said in a semi-exasperated way and she looked up at him, reaching up to put her hands over his heart; it was a strange little habit of hers, always doing that when he was frustrated or was upset.

"Daddy should smile," she said and smiled at him, "See? Like Nyxie smile. Smile, Daddy."

"I'll smile if you call Harry by his name."

"No, that Lily," Nyx said and pointed again, "Lily. See?" She then turned to look at the boy, "Lily!"

"Mommy?" Harry said, mashed banana all over his mouth and looked around, seeming to recognize his mother's name; not finding her he sniffled and scrunched up his face, making Severus panic a bit and with a wave of his wand, returned the spoon to the bowl and removed Harry from the chair, bringing him back over.

He held him carefully, looking at him. "Now don't cry, alright Harry, you're okay, it's okay."

"But mommy," he sniffled and tears formed in his eyes.

Seeing him start to cry Nyx of course got upset as well and started to cry as well, the hand still over his chest clinging to his shirt; Severus' eye twitched some and he tried to juggle the two distraught toddlers, trying to calm them both and not lose his sanity.

Above him he could hear a loud thud and the screams and vulgar curses that followed alerted him to the fact that apparently Sirius was now awake. Admittedly he wasn't really looking forward to dealing with yet another child but adjusting the boy in his arms and picking up his daughter carefully he set upon going up the stairs; there was no way he was leaving either downstairs alone, Nyx had already started walking and knowing her she might try to follow him anyway, and he wasn't sure about Harry but figured if he was anything like James, he probably would find a way to fall into trouble if left alone for too long. So that left carrying both toddlers the best he could; it was as awkward and uncomfortable as he could have imagined.

"Open this fucking door Snivellus right now!" Yelled Sirius and approaching the door Severus became aware that the other man was trying to kick it down, to no avail.

He twitched some and both children immediately stopped crying, hushed by the angry talk. He spoke coldly back through the door, "Will you calm down? You're scaring Harry and Nyx."

"Open this door and I'll show you calm, you arsehole!"

"I will not let you out if you don't control that foul mouth of yours, Black. Merlin's beard, Nyx is like a sponge and I don't need my daughter swearing."

"I know better than to swear around children!"

"Obviously not." Severus frowned a bit as Harry wiggled and whined, reaching at the door; he let the boy down and with wobbly legs, it seemed he was not as used to walking as Nyx was, he went to the door and put both hands on it.

"Snuffles!"

"Harry?" The kicking stopped and Sirius' tone changed almost immediately upon hearing his godson's voice; Harry beamed, smacking his hands against the door.

"Snuffles! Come out Snuffles! Come out!"

"I'd love to, Prongsling, but the big bad Snivellus won't let me."

Harry screwed up his face, not sure what that meant and turned to look at Severus, obviously thinking he had to have the answer. The Slytherin sighed and adjusted Nyx in his arms again.

"You calm down and I'll let you out, 'Snuffles'. Not before."

"Please Severus?" Severus froze up hearing the very careful and deliberate sounding out of his name and he stared at the small boy. A bad move; the moment his eyes met the boy's he was struck by the fact that Lily was Harry's mother and he had her eyes. The same eyes that would stare at him with such fascination as he told her stories of how great the wizarding world was, that would sparkle with such a bright light when she smiled or laughed, that looked at him with such anger and hurt that fateful day. Yet Harry knew his name, knew how to say it, and though he could vaguely remember Sirius saying it the night before, there was a part of him that maybe wanted to believe it was more than just hearing his godfather say it once. That maybe, just maybe, just like Severus had told Nyx of the beautiful fire haired girl he once knew, that Lily had told her son of the awkward boy who once had been her best friend.

He gulped and found it difficult; Nyx tugged on his robes and he continued to stare at Harry before grumbling and reaching into his pocket to remove his wand. The charm to unlock the door was easy enough and upon the sound of the lock clicking and the door creaking open, Harry beamed again and laughed as Sirius scooped him up, nuzzling the dark haired boy affectionately.

"Hey Prongsling, hopefully Snivellus didn't feed you anything nasty," Sirius said with a grin.

"I had to stop him from putting the bananas on his head," Severus responded deadpan, "He refused to sit on my lap so I could feed him by hand so I had to use magic to do it."

"Well yeah, you're a wanker," Sirius said still grinning until Harry smacked his nose with his small open palm, causing confusion to spread through the man's face and Severus to try his hardest to stifle the laugh threatening to explode out of him seeing Sirius Black get smacked in the face by a 14 month old.

"Not wanker," Harry said seriously, "Severus. Se-ve-rus. Silly Snuffles."

"Ow Harry, that hurt," Sirius said looking sad for a moment and the small boy simply crossed his arms.

Severus smirked until Nyx did the same to him, causing the man to both be surprised and bothered that Harry was becoming a bad influence on his daughter; figures.

"I wanna play with Lily, show to Coco," Nyx said, giving a nod of finality.

"Later, Nyxie," he said and turned to Sirius, "If you're calmer now perhaps you'd like to come down stairs and eat some breakfast like a civilized person?"

"In your kitchen? I'd rather die." Sirius tried to act tough but it was quickly overshadowed as his stomach made a gurgling growling noise and Harry giggled, reaching up to pat his godfather on the head.

"Silly Snuffles." The man sighed and with another smirk Severus led them back downstairs to the kitchen. He felt Nyx shifting to over his shoulder and her arm reaching out, no doubt to try and grab at Harry again, and he smiled some, patting her back gently.

"I still think you had to have stolen her," Sirius said, making his way over to the table as they entered and plopping down on a chair with Harry on his lap; the little boy wiggled but seemed happy being there.

Severus rolled his eyes and set Nyx down in her chair so he could start breakfast for himself and Sirius; he had gotten so tied up in trying to get the kids fed that he had forgotten to get food for himself as well. There wasn't much in the house, he'd need to go for a store run soon unfortunately, but there was enough for some eggs and sausage, a slice of toast too; he could feel Sirius' eyes on his back as he cooked with his wand sticking out of his back pocket and he scoffed without turning around, "Don't stare like an idiot, Black."

"Are you actually cooking? Like, without magic?"

"Is it so hard to believe I would be able to do that?" The Slytherin was not sure if he wanted to be offended or not and continued to cook, "It's not all that different than brewing potions."

"Yeah but it's so...nonmagical."

"You mean like a Muggle." There was no response and Severus sighed, rolling his eyes before turning to look at Sirius, "We don't need to waste magic over something as simple and stupid as cooking some eggs."

"If you say so," the other man responded and played with Harry, making the boy laugh as he tried playing peekaboo with him.

Severus shook his head and returned to the cooking. A few golden seconds of peace managed to pass, not silence with Sirius and Harry playing and Nyx whining about wanting out of her chair; he had moved to put her food in front of her, having forgotten to do so with Sirius to deal with, and was about to turn back to the food for the grown ups when he heard Sirius exclaim wordlessly and turned to see Harry falling. It was dumb luck or sheer instinct of movement that got him to once again draw his wand, suspending Harry before he could hit the ground, the small boy looking to be in shock as Severus slowly raised him back up and Sirius grabbed him, holding him close.

"Oh god Harry," Sirius said and the boy, still in shock, just clung to his godfather's shoulder.

"You need to be more careful, you idiot," Severus said and rubbed the bridge of his nose again.

"Oi! I'm not an idiot; he just slipped off my lap, it's not my fault."

"He's a baby; of course it's your fault if something happens to him and you're the one holding him."

"Like you haven't had Nyx accidentally fall off your lap."

"No, I haven't, because I actually keep a hold of her so she can't slip. Because she's my daughter whether or not you want to believe that, I love her, and I don't want her to get hurt."

Nyx started crying as the two argued and Severus frowned, going over to pick her up to try and soothe her. Of course despite only knowing each other for a few hours it seemed the two babies had gained a connection that caused Harry to snap out of his shock upon hearing her wails and start in with his own. This led to more confusion and panic from Sirius as he tried to calm down his godson; Severus threw a glare at Sirius, irritated how his behavior caused this.

By the time the two men had managed to get the two to calm down again the eggs were burning and with a small swear under his breath Severus had to end up using magic to salvage them. Sirius glared at him wordlessly as the other man set a plate of food before him with one hand and grabbed his own plate, still balancing and lightly bouncing the distraught girl while he tried to sit down. He shifted her back to his lap and tried to ignore the sound of tapping on his window, no doubt the crow wanting in; he waved his wand, summoning instead a small stuffed dragon that he handed to her. "Now now, Nyxie, don't cry; Silas hates it when you cry, remember?"

She sniffled and grabbed at the stuffed animal, hugging it close as tears streamed down her face. He smiled meekly and wiped away her tears with his sleeve, "Come now, we're not fighting right now, see? The mutt and I were just annoyed with each other because he almost dropped Harry."

"Shut up Snivellus," Sirius grumbled still trying to calm Harry.

Nyx looked up at her father then at Harry and sniffled again. "Lily is upset too?"

He resisted the urge to correct her and nodded. "He heard you crying and didn't like it."

"My fault?" Nyx said with big eyes and he immediately regretted his choice in words.

"He just felt sad hearing you be sad, it's not your fault."

She pouted a bit and sniffled once more before holding out her stuffed dragon towards where Sirius and Harry were. The Gryffindor stared over at the little girl, still holding his godson, and she whined. "Lilyyyyyy! Silas hates it when you cryyyyy! No cryyyyy!"

"Snivellus, your daughter is insane," Sirius said and tried adjusting Harry in his arms before realizing the boy wasn't screaming in his ear anymore; a closer look revealed that he was staring at Nyx and the dragon Silas before hiccuping, tears still in his eyes as he tried it seemed to control himself.

Sirius was admittedly startled by the fact that he couldn't get Harry to stop crying but all the girl had to do was say a stuffed animal didn't like crying and call him by his mother's name and he immediately stopped. He looked at Severus, "Did she seriously call him Lily?"

"Harry responded to it." Severus put his daughter down and the little girl waddled over to Sirius, holding out the dragon still, looking her fellow toddler dead in the eye. Harry wiggled and as he was put down he took the dragon from her, looking at it before hugging it; she seemed pleased and nodded her head like this was exactly her plan. Severus tried not to chuckle and shook his head before returning his attention to Sirius, "Eat your food, Black; the kids will be fine."

Sirius didn't say anything and part of the Slytherin was glad for it, though another part wondered what was going through his head, if anything. The two children played with the stuffed dragon and the adults tried to eat.

Tried; before a single spoonful could enter Severus' mouth there was a sharp knocking coming from the direction of the front door and his eye twitched before turning to look towards the clock in the room. It was still before noon, though not by much; all the trouble with letting Sirius out of his room and the breakfast and Nyx and Harry getting upset, it had eaten up quite a bit of time it seemed and with a deep irritated sigh he put down his utensils and stood up, grumbling a little with the other man looking at him with a raised eyebrow as he made his way out of the room and to the front hallway. He had no idea who would be bothering them so early and he was thankful for the most part that the kids were too busy to think to try to follow him. Especially as he opened the door, planing on asking what the person wanted with the venom of a tired single parent, and saw who it was instead.

"Professor McGonagall," he stuttered, loud enough that Sirius could hear from the kitchen and the man turned ghostly white.

The Head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration teacher and all-around intimidating figure stood on his front stoop, hands folded in front of her and what seemed to him an especially stern look stuck onto her face; Severus was no longer her student but it didn't mean he could easily shake off the habits of the past and no student of Hogwarts was capable of actually look at her looking so severe and not be terrified even a little.

"I have told you before, Severus, you are allowed to call me Minerva; after all you are set to become the Potions Master at Hogwarts," she said her voice quite serious.

He tried not to gulp and nodded. "Of course...Minerva. May I ask why you're here so early in the day?"

"I think you know quite well why I am here, Severus." His heart froze up and she continued, "Would you be so kind as to allow me to come inside?"

It didn't really feel like a request to him and he stepped inside, gesturing for her to walk inside, closing the door once she had done so; his eyes made his way over to the kitchen, luckily obscured from where they were. He wondered if Sirius would be smart enough to make himself scarce when he had heard Severus say the name of Sirius' old House Head, a wondering that was soon shattered violently as Nyx came running out as best as her legs could carry her, followed closely by a giggling Harry, and came over to the woman.

"Kitty!~" Nyx squealed and Minerva smiled lightly before leaning down carefully to the small girl's level.

"Good morning, Nyx, have you been causing your father trouble?" she asked then directed her attention to Harry and Severus tried to speak but couldn't; she raised an eyebrow and spoke again, "Good morning, Harry."

"Kitty?" Harry asked tilting his head.

Nyx giggled and turned to her new friend, pointing at Minerva. "Kitty! Pretty kitty with spectacles and soft fur!"

Harry blinked then nodded as if that made sense and to compound the problem Sirius came out, trying to grab Harry and Severus groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose yet again as the older woman looked from godson to godfather. She then turned to Severus. "Yes, I think you very much know why I am here, Severus."

"Minerva, please," he said and looked at her, "I can explain..."

"Then explain because I must admit that on the surface this does not look good. You have the missing Boy Who Lived, who multiple professors as well as Hagrid and half of the Ministry have been searching for since last night, along with Sirius Black, the man the other half is searching for, a man accursed of killing one of his best friends and betraying the others-"

"I did not!" Sirius exclaimed loudly, causing both Severus and Minerva to look at him and Harry started to whine again, waving Silas around as he got close to crying once again.

Severus frowned and went over, grabbing the boy and set him back down, allowing Nyx to hug him and calm the boy. He threw Sirius a dirty look then turned to the woman again, trying gather what courage he had.

"I understand this looks bad, but I have good reason for this."

"I certainly hope so." She crossed her arms, staring at him and he was reminded of his schooldays; never a fun thing.

He took a deep breath. "I went to the Potters' house last night after what happened; I found Harry there in his crib with Potter...James, and Lily, both dead. He was crying but unhurt; when I picked him up Sirius arrived, he told me about what happened with Pettigrew and then when we heard footsteps I brought both of them back here to my home."

"Why were you at Lily and James' house?" she asked, "How did you even know..."

"The charm broke when the house was attacked, allowing me to find it," he answered, fiddling with the end of his sleeve nervously, not looking her in the eye, "Despite what had happened between us, Lily had been my first friend, and I did not wish for her to die in vain."

"In vain?" He gulped and realized the impasse he had here.

The man hesitated and his eyes wandered to Sirius, seeing him staring back at him; he took another deep breath and spoke, "I did not wish to see the boy Lily and James died to protect be manipulated by Albus Dumbledore."

She frowned. "Severus, that is certainly not fair to say. You make it sound like Professor Dumbledore is some sort of monster."

"Maybe he is one, maybe not, but either way doesn't change the fact I don't trust him to protect Harry," he responded, shaking his head, "Nor does it change the fact that it feels like he's had the ability to deal with this situation for a while now and he didn't. That there was likely better ways to go about protecting the Potters rather than put it on one person to protect their secret."

"Who happens to be in this room."

It was Sirius' turn to frown and he stepped forward. "I was not their Secret Keeper, Professor McGonagall; Peter was. Do you really think that if I was the one who they had chosen to entrust that I ever would have let the secret be known?"

"Why was Pettigrew ever made the Secret Keeper?" Her question startled Sirius and he made a face, shifting feet; he mumbled something under his breath and the teacher raised an eyebrow, "Sirius Black, answer the question."

"Because I convinced them it would be clever to choose Peter over me, that no one would ever guess it was Wormtail instead of Prongsy's bestie." Severus sighed and Minerva's expression didn't change much.

Sirius continued to shift feet and look at Harry, a sad sort of look in his eyes. "I'm sorry Harry, if I hadn't convinced them not to choose me..."

"It was not entirely your fault, Black," Severus said and the other man stared at him with a startled expression, "I'm the one who told Voldemort the prophecy after all."

"You what?!" Sirius exclaimed, "So you-"

"I did not tell him it was Harry; the prophecy involved just a child born at the end of July, not a specific one; Voldemort made the choice to make it be Harry. And as I told you before, when I learned that he was planning on going after the Potters, I went straight to Dumbledore; I asked him to protect them, all three of them, just as I asked Voldemort to not kill Lily. But I should have done more; I should have tried to do something more to protect them."

"I was unaware you were aware of the prophecy, Severus," Minerva said and he sighed.

"I overheard it when Dumbledore was interviewing that strange woman Trelawney; I didn't get the whole thing but...I stupidly took it to the Dark Lord like the idiot I was. So it's not like I'm not to blame for what happened, I just never imagined when I heard it that it would ever involve the death of Harry's parents."

"And if it had been anyone else's family?" Severus did not respond; he could feel Sirius staring at him, as was Minerva and all he could do was look at Nyx, watching as she patted Harry's head, called him Lily, smiled.

"I can't tell you I absolutely would have gone to Dumbledore for help if it wasn't the Potters being targeted, because that would be a lie; Lily was once the most important person in the world to me and I think if it was different, I probably wouldn't have cared if anyone else got killed as long as she survived. But..."

"But?" Minerva asked.

"But Nyx was only a month or so old when I had gone to Hog's Head and overheard the prophecy." Sirius furrowed his brow but Minerva's expression immediately softened and there was a sad light to them.

She nodded solemnly. "I see. It is indeed hard to say what you would have done if things were different but I suppose considering things, it could be said that even if another child had been chosen, you of all people would likely find it hard to stomach allowing another family to die. Though why you still told...You-Know-Who, I do not fully understand."

"I was stupid and in grief; I was not thinking. Can we please change the subject?" Severus hated talking about this; that entire time had been horrible, those few months in which everything seemed to start happen and his stomach turned just thinking about it.

Minerva stared at him then once again nodded and cleared her voice. "Yes well, all this new information aside, I did come here to discuss Sirius and Harry."

"You're not going to turn me in right?" Sirius asked, "Please professor, I swear, I didn't kill anyone; I saw what happened at James' house and I went to go find Peter and then he used his magic and I swear I didn't hurt anyone, I didn't kill me. Please don't tell the Ministry where I am, I'm innocent."

There was panic to his voice, growing more and more intense with each word and his eyes were wide, frantic. Severus walked over and awkwardly put a hand on the man's shoulder, causing him to violently pull away and he sighed.

"It's okay Black, deep breaths."

"If what you say is true then the sensible thing to do would be to go talk to the Ministry, explain to them the situation," she said frowning, causing both to stare at him for a moment before she continued on, "But sensible would be pointless I suppose. Likely the result would be that they would not believe you and if they learn Severus helped you escape, he would be imprisoned as well, something that would be unfavorable considering Nyx."

Hearing her name the little girl looked up, blinking. She looked at each of the adults, "Unfaberbul?"

"They also would come to know I also took Harry which again I do not want to have happen because again, I do not plan on letting him be used like some kind of tool."

Minerva frowned. "Dumbledore is not going to hurt a baby, Severus."

"Dumbledore was also not going to let Lily and James die," Severus responded, "Yet somehow the greatest wizard of our time was unable to figure something out that would keep them safe, something maybe as a backup to the Fidelis Charm being broken? Isn't that a bit odd that someone who is as smart as Albus Dumbledore, who has already fought with one dangerous Dark Wizard, wouldn't think to have a backup plan? Especially after everything I told him; Minerva, I'm a double agent, I was a Death Eater but I was spying for Dumbledore. I told him everything I knew, everything I could; he knew about Peter being on Voldemort's side and he did nothing."

"I thought," Minerva started and hesitated, "He actually..."

"Sirius didn't betray Lily and James Potter; Peter Pettigrew did. And he did it with a smile on his snivelly little rat face; he sold out his friends to his master, to prove his worth to a man who couldn't care less about his existence. You want to know what I think, Minerva? You want to know what I really believe? I think Albus Dumbledore planned on sacrificing two of his ex-students just to get rid of Voldemort, I think he put things in such a state, manipulated the Order and everyone's respect for him to the point that he guaranteed that Harry would be the sole survivor in that room and now he plans on taking the boy and making sure he would be in such a state that if it turns out the Dark Lord isn't permanently gone, that Harry, a child, will be his perfect weapon against him."

"Severus," she said and Harry looked up now too, confused; Severus leaned down to pet the boy's hair, not wanting to worry too much. The child whined and grabbed onto his robes, refusing to let go and forcing him to scoop him up into his arms to hold him; Harry buried his face in his throat.

"Severus," he spoke softly and the Slytherin patted his back gently.

"It's okay Harry, you're okay."

"Do you know how I knew that Sirius Black would be here despite the two of you being very far from friends in school, or how I knew you would have Harry despite hating his father for so long?" Her question knocked Severus off-kilter and he stared at her for a moment before shaking his head.

She gave a gentle smile, the kind only a teacher used to dealing with students could give. "Because I know the two of you very well. When I heard what happened, and I heard that Harry had gone missing, it was not hard to guess that there were only really two people who could have taken him: his godfather who I never doubted would have rather died than betray his best friend or the man who loved his mother and would be unable to see a motherless child and leave them be."

"You...believe me?" Sirius asked eyes wide; he looked ready to cry honestly, "You..."

"Sirius, James Potter and you were two of the closest friends I have ever seen in my entire career of teaching," she said softly, "I was not unaware that your family treated you badly, we were well aware that you had moved in with his parents when you were sixteen; the connection you two had was the stuff of legend. And it is no secret either that you adore young baby Harry as well as Lily Potter. I personally thought that they had to have killed you, gone on to some other unfortunate in the Order who would have been Secret Keeper upon your death, to find them; I wasn't sure what to think when I heard that you supposedly murdered one of your other Marauder friends but I never truly believed that you could have betrayed James and Lily Potter."

Sirius was silent and Severus chose not to look at him, keeping his gaze on Minerva. Harry whined hearing his parents names so much and Severus bounced him lightly. "So you figured you'd come to my house then to find them?"

"I came here to see you two," she said then looked at Harry, "And to make sure Harry was alright as well."

"Well you've seen us; what now?" He was still unsure of having her here, of trusting that this wasn't going to end badly.

"Now I'm going to ask you to allow me to cast the Fidelius Charm to keep Harry and Sirius safe."

Severus was stunned to silence for a moment and he simply stared blankly at his old teacher; Sirius was confused as well and opened his mouth to try and say something, finding nothing came out and closing it again before trying again. Minerva looked serious, as she always did, and the Slytherin couldn't read anything off of her face; he of course had questions, a lot of them, but he could barely form a thought not to mention words.

She continued. "Albus asked me to go look in on a certain family living in Little Whinging, you may be aware of them."

"Petunia Evans' family," he managed to force out and Minerva nodded; Severus' stomach was in knots now and sensing her father's distress Nyx pulled on his robes, Harry hugging tighter to his neck.

"Yes, though I believe her last name is Dursley now," the woman continued and made a face, nearly making the two ex-students laugh, "I saw their morning routine; they have a young son, about Harry's age, but he struck me as quite...terrible. Honestly the three of them gave me a very bad feeling; I saw the boy repeatedly hit his mother and throw food everywhere, his mother talking about their neighbors with such gleeful malice, and her husband just laughed like it was all good. I couldn't imagine either of these sweet children ever acting as spoiled and ungrateful as that boy. I'm no fool, I can guess why Albus would want me to meet him there; I only heard about what happened by rumor but I can put two and two together, thank you very much."

Severus held Harry closer and she looked at the small boy, "You grew up with Lily, you knew her sister; you probably realize that with her gone, Harry would likely have to go to his aunt as his surviving family."

"I won't allow that," he said, "You might think her son is bad but you do not know how bad she was when we were kids, how she treated her own sister; Petunia was a vicious girl and she despised me, was jealous and often cruel to Lily, and she detested anything that was a part of the wizarding world."

"She refused to come to James and Lily's wedding," Sirius said and Severus turned to him, "I...I forgot but...yeah. Lily tried to get her to come, wanted her sister there with her; it had to a small wedding, just a small number of us collected together to celebrate, but she wanted her to be there so badly and Petunia refused. It broke Lily's heart and I remember James being so angry; he hated seeing Lily looking sad. But she kept him from doing anything too stupid and in the end it was alright, the wedding was still really nice."

"Petunia would no doubt treat her nephew badly too," Severus said shaking his head, "I have no intention of letting Dumbledore take him and give him over to such a woman."

"I don't know about her possibly abusing him but I certainly don't think she would be able to protect him," Minerva said, "There are still Death Eaters being rounded up and leaving the one who defeated their master with a bunch of muggles? I cannot imagine it turning well."

"So I guess then we're in agreement that Harry can't go with them; what about Sirius then?"

"As I said, even if sensibility says he should go to the Ministry and try to explain himself, I doubt it would end well. Sirius cannot allow the Aurors to find him, for anyone in the wizarding world to find him; it won't take long for people to start hearing about what happened and assume that he betrayed the Potters and possibly killed Peter to try and cover his tracks or something to that effect. But he has little choice in where he can go hide; his home is being monitored by the Ministry as we speak and likely anyone who normally would harbor him if they didn't know that Peter was the actual Secret Keeper, they'll think the same as everyone else. They'll want him imprisoned or worse."

"Same for the Death Eaters," Severus said nodding, "We've gone over this."

"So what, you think I should stay here, with Snivellus?" Sirius asked.

"Not exactly ideal for me either," Severus said rolling his eyes.

Minerva gave them both a look and they shut up immediately. She took a deep breath, "I understand the two of you have always been at odds but you are adults now; it would benefit you to act like it.

"As it is, neither Harry nor Sirius can be seen by the wizarding world at the moment; Albus will want Harry put with his aunt's family, and Sirius would be sent to Azkaban without a question. But Severus, you brought them both here, and as you have no apparent wish to let Harry go, nor will Sirius leave his godson's side, it strikes me we have an opportunity here."

"Namely casting a Fidelius Charm, make Sirius and Harry the secret to keep anyone from finding either of them," Severus continued, to which she nodded; he frowned, "But the Fidelius Charm is used on a house, a location, is it not? Even if we used it on my home, then Dumbledore would still be able to find it; he knows where I live."

"Technically speaking the charm is about information, and hiding such; it is not strictly about a specific location even if it is usually only used for hiding such," Minerva said with a small smile, "It can be cast to specifically hide the current location of an individual or pair of individuals though it makes it more complicated doing so. Dumbledore does not know they are here right now, no one does save for the group of us here; if I cast the charm and act your Secret Keeper-"

"Minerva, we couldn't make you do that," Severus interrupted, "if anyone was to find out..."

"What, you think they would be able to force the information out of me?" She raised another eyebrow at him and he quickly quieted, carefully calculating his next words.

"If...we have you do that, then I will act as Secret Keeper too," he said, "This is my home after all."

Minerva nodded in agreement with this and took out her wand. Sirius frowned, looking from one to the other before speaking up, "So what, we're going to live the rest of our lives as secrets, like Lily and James did?"

"Only until we can be certain it's no longer necessary," Severus said, "So for you Black, probably the rest of eternity, but we just need Harry hidden long enough to ensure no one can just take him away, namely Dumbledore."

"There is a thought to how you could possibly ensure that Harry says in your custody, Severus, but for now it's for the best he and Sirius are protected properly from those who might hurt them or chase after all. So shall we?"

She raised her wand and Severus nodded before setting Harry down carefully; he looked at the boy. "Harry, sit still okay?"

The child stared at him and Nyx tugged on his robes, causing Severus to give her a gentle smile before patting her head and standing up again. Sirius still looked uncomfortable and admittedly so was Severus; part of him told him this wouldn't end too well, that Secret Keepers were only a stopgap measure. But that's what they needed; if the Ministry and Dumbledore wanted Harry and Sirius then they would likely keep trying until they got them. Or until something was done to keep them from finding the two.

He listened to Minerva speak the incantation and he saw the magic get to work; he'd never seen it at work before, a twisting sort of mistiness, almost making the boy and the man look like ghosts for a moment. At the same time Severus felt something, odd like there was something in his chest, not a pain but something close to it. He looked at Nyx again who was rubbing her eyes and once the spell was done waddled over to Harry to put her hands on his shoulders.

"Lily?" she asked as if confused.

"Harry," he whined back at her and she smiled, smacking his cheeks with her palms.

"Lily!"

"Is Nyx calling Harry by his mother's name?" Minerva asked Severus.

He groaned a bit. "Don't ask." The thing in his chest continued and he wondered what this would end up leading to; he caught Sirius staring at him with an unreadable expression and the Slytherin wasn't sure if he wanted to scowl or not at him. What he did know though was that this was certain to be the start of a very interesting experience, whether or not he wanted it to be.

(Woo my first author note in a while XD Vene and Nihon here, having to explain some thoughts:

The Fidelius Charm is fucking stupid. No, seriously; I spent more time looking it up, trying to figure out what goes into it, what doesn't and it's really as complicated as Flitwick says. Though this ( . ) is probably one of my favorite explanations of how it seems to work in terms of what we see.

Basically I'm going with that a) it can be cast on people making them the "secret" to be kept, b) it breaks upon the death of the caster, and c) I'm adding since it's not explicitly stated otherwise that the charm CAN be lifted by the original caster using Finite Incantatem but ONLY the original caster has the ability to lift the charm and only using the full incantation. Severus and Minerva are the two Secret Keepers, with Minerva the caster.

Anyhooooo outside of that madness, let's move on. Hopefully this wasn't too bad of a chapter; I wanted to set up these two idiots being forced to having to stay together. And yes, Nyx will be continuing to call Harry 'Lily'; who 'Coco' is will come up eventually but maybe you smart duckies can guess ^w~ She's only about seventeen months old, give her a break in terms of what is and isn't the boy's name. And the one time Severus called Sirius by his name was not a mistake; I might have a lot of typoes but that is definitely not one of them.

So until next time, reviews are love, and bye-bi!~)


End file.
